In an optical communication network that includes a plurality of interconnected network nodes, a method includes storing in each network node, and for each communication channel that traverses the node, one or more impairment margins of respective impairments that affect the communication channel. A potential communication channel that traverses a subset of the nodes in the network is identified. A quality of the potential communication channel is evaluated by processing the impairment margins stored in the nodes in the subset.
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1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media encoded with computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor in a network node of an optical communication network that includes a plurality of interconnected network nodes, the instructions are operable to: store, for each communication channel that traverses the node, one or more respective impairment margins with respect to impairments that affect the corresponding communication channel, wherein each communication channel is affected by one or more impairments and each impairment margin indicates an additional amount of impairment of a given type, above the impairments that affect the corresponding communication channel, that the corresponding communication channel can tolerate and remain within specified performance criteria; identify a potential communication channel that traverses a subset of the plurality of nodes in the network; and evaluate a quality of the potential communication channel by processing the impairment margins stored in the node; wherein the nodes are interconnected by network sections, and further comprising instructions operable to: determine if the impairments are recoverable or irrecoverable; if the impairments are recoverable, propagate the impairment margins for each section to a destination node, and evaluate the quality of the potential communication channel at the destination node; and if one or more of the impairments are irrecoverable, evaluate the quality of the potential communication channel on a section by section basis, and deny setting-up the potential communication channel if the impairment level is found to be intolerable in any section.
In an optical network, each node stores impairment margins for each communication channel passing through it. These margins represent how much additional impairment (like noise or distortion) a channel can tolerate before performance degrades. The system identifies a potential new communication channel through a subset of nodes and evaluates its quality by processing the impairment margins stored in those nodes. The system determines if impairments are recoverable or not. If recoverable, impairment margins are propagated to the destination node and the potential channel quality is evaluated. If irrecoverable, the channel quality is evaluated section-by-section and denied if any section has intolerable impairment.
2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , further comprising instructions operable to: evaluate the quality of the potential communication channel, in response to determining that the potential communication channel is unfeasible in a given network section, and deny setting-up of the potential communication channel over a path.
Building upon the impairment evaluation system described previously, if the system determines that a potential communication channel is not feasible (unacceptable impairment levels) in a specific network section, the system will deny the setup of that communication channel across the entire path, preventing the establishment of a poor-quality connection.
3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , wherein the store one or more respective impairment margins comprise at least one margin type selected from a group of types consisting of a cross-talk margin, an optical power margin, a Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) margin, a Polarization Modulation Dispersion (PMD) margin and a filtering margin.
The impairment margins used in the optical network system include various types of impairments, such as cross-talk margin (interference from other channels), optical power margin (signal strength), Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) margin, Polarization Modulation Dispersion (PMD) margin (signal distortion due to polarization effects), and filtering margin (signal degradation due to optical filters). The system stores at least one of these margin types for each channel.
4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , wherein the instructions operable to evaluate a quality of the potential communication channel by processing the impairment margins stored in the node comprise instructions operable to: evaluate, using the impairment margins stored in the node, the quality of the potential communication channel by evaluating the impairments inflicted on the potential communication channel by at least one other communication channel that traverses the node.
In the optical network system, the evaluation of a potential communication channel's quality involves assessing the impact of *existing* communication channels on the *new* potential channel. This is done by evaluating the impairments inflicted on the potential channel by other channels traversing the same nodes, using the stored impairment margins to predict interference levels.
5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , wherein the instructions operable to evaluate a quality of the potential communication channel by processing the impairment margins stored in the node comprise instructions operable to: evaluate, using the impairment margins stored in the node, the quality of the potential communication channel by evaluating the impairments inflicted by the potential communication channel to at least one other communication channel that traverses the node.
In the optical network system, the evaluation of a potential communication channel's quality also involves assessing the impact of the *new* potential channel on *existing* communication channels. This is done by evaluating the impairments inflicted by the potential channel on other channels traversing the same nodes, using the stored impairment margins to ensure the new channel doesn't negatively affect existing connections.
6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , wherein the nodes are interconnected by network sections, and further comprising instructions operable to: collect from each node in a subset of nodes, characteristics of a respective local network section connected to the node, and estimate a given impairment margin of the potential communication channel using the collected characteristics.
In the optical network system, the nodes collect characteristics of the local network section connected to them. Then the system estimates a specific impairment margin for a potential communication channel based on these collected characteristics of the network sections it will traverse.
7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , further comprising instructions operable to: propagate, from a destination node to a source node, a path reservation message comprising an estimated given impairment margin of the potential communication channel; and update the given impairment margin of the potential communication channel stored in the node responsively to the path reservation message.
In the optical network system, after evaluating a potential communication channel, the destination node sends a path reservation message back to the source node. This message includes an estimated impairment margin for the channel. The source node then updates its stored impairment margin for that potential channel based on the information in the path reservation message.
8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 7 , further comprising instructions operable to: update, in the node, stored impairment margins of one or more other communication channels that traverse the given node in response to the path reservation message.
Building upon the path reservation system described previously, after the source node updates the impairment margin for the new potential channel, it also updates the stored impairment margins of other existing communication channels that traverse the same node. This reflects the impact of the new channel on the existing ones.
9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8 , further comprising instructions operable to: cause the network node traversed by the one or more other communication channels to update the stored impairment margins of the one or more other communication channels.
Building upon the margin update process, the network node, which is affected by the new channel also tells the nodes traversed by *other* communication channels to update their stored impairment margins to reflect the impact of the new channel on their routes.
10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 6 , further comprising instructions operable to: detect a change related to the respective local network section; in response to the detected change, update the collected characteristics; and re-estimate the given impairment margin of the potential communication channel using the updated collected characteristics.
In the optical network system, if a change is detected in a local network section, the system updates the collected characteristics of that section. Then, it re-estimates the impairment margin of a potential communication channel that uses that section, based on the updated characteristics, to ensure accurate impairment assessment.
11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , wherein the instructions operable to evaluate a quality of the potential communication channel by processing the impairment margins stored in the node comprise instructions operable to: evaluate, using the impairment margins stored in the node, the impairments inflicted on the potential communication channel by at least one other communication channel that traverses the node, and evaluate, using the impairment margins stored in the node, the impairments inflicted by the potential communication channel on at least one other communication channel that traverses the node.
In the optical network system, the evaluation of a potential communication channel's quality involves assessing the impairments inflicted *on* the potential channel by *existing* channels, and also assessing the impairments inflicted *by* the potential channel *on* other existing channels, using impairment margins, to comprehensively evaluate channel quality and mutual interference.
12. An optical communication network, comprising a plurality of interconnected network nodes, wherein each of the nodes is configured to store, for each communication channel that traverses the node, one or more respective impairment margins with respect to impairments that affect the corresponding communication channel, wherein each communication channel is affected by one or more impairments and each impairment margin indicates an additional amount of impairment of a given type, above the impairments that affect the corresponding communication channel, that the corresponding communication channel can tolerate and remain within specified performance criteria, wherein a subset of the nodes are configured to evaluate a quality of a communication channel that traverses the nodes in the subset by updating the impairment margins stored in the nodes in the subset in response to detecting a change in one or more existing nodes in the communication network; and wherein the nodes are interconnected by network sections and configured to: determine if the impairments are recoverable or irrecoverable; if the impairments are recoverable, propagate the impairment margins for each section to a destination node, and evaluate the quality of the potential communication channel at the destination node; and if one or more of the impairments are irrecoverable, evaluate the quality of the potential communication channel on a section by section basis, and deny setting-up the potential communication channel if the impairment level is found to be intolerable in any section.
An optical communication network comprises interconnected nodes, each storing impairment margins for its channels, indicating tolerance to impairments. A subset of nodes evaluates a channel's quality by updating impairment margins in response to network changes. The system determines if impairments are recoverable or not. If recoverable, impairment margins are propagated to the destination node and the potential channel quality is evaluated. If irrecoverable, the channel quality is evaluated section-by-section and denied if any section has intolerable impairment.
13. The network according to claim 12 , wherein the nodes in the subset are arranged along a path comprising network sections that traverse the optical communication network from a source node to a destination node, and wherein the nodes in the subset are configured to, at each node along the path, update path information contained in a message, the message propagating along the nodes in the network section in response to detecting a change in one or more existing nodes in the communication network.
The optical network is built from nodes arranged along a path from a source to a destination node. These nodes update path information in a message that propagates along the path in response to changes in the network. This enables the nodes to dynamically adapt the communication channel to the new changes.
14. The network according to claim 12 , wherein the impairment margins comprise at least one margin type selected from a group of types consisting of a cross-talk margin, an optical power margin, a Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) margin, a Polarization Modulation Dispersion (PMD) margin and a filtering margin.
The impairment margins used in the optical network include at least one of: cross-talk margin, optical power margin, Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) margin, Polarization Modulation Dispersion (PMD) margin, or filtering margin.
15. The network according to claim 12 , wherein the network nodes are interconnected by network sections, and are configured to collect from each node in the subset characteristics of a respective local network section connected to the node, and to update path information along the nodes in the network section using the collected characteristics.
In the optical network, interconnected nodes collect characteristics of local network sections connected to them. Then the nodes update path information along the nodes in the network section using the collected characteristics of the network sections it will traverse.
16. The network according to claim 12 , wherein the nodes in the subset are arranged along a path that traverses the optical communication network from a source node to a destination node, wherein the source node is configured to propagate a path request message to the destination node via the nodes in the subset, and wherein each of the nodes in the subset is configured to add the characteristics of the respective local network section to the path request message, so as to accumulate the characteristics and estimate the given impairment margin at the destination node.
In the optical network, nodes are arranged along a path from a source to a destination. The source node sends a path request message to the destination, and each intermediate node adds its local network section characteristics to the message. The destination accumulates these characteristics to estimate the overall impairment margin.
17. A node in an optical communication network, the node comprising: a memory, which is configured to store, for each of a plurality of communication channels that traverses the node, one or more respective impairment margins with respect to impairments that affect the communication channel, wherein each communication channel is affected by one or more impairments and each impairment margin indicates an additional amount of impairment of a given type, above the impairments that affect the corresponding communication channel, that the corresponding communication channel can tolerate and remain within specified performance criteria; and a processor, which is configured to communicate with a subset of the nodes in the optical communications network, to: detect a change having an impact to one or more impairment margins; in response to detecting the change, trigger a message comprising information about the change in the impairment margin to be sent towards a destination node; receive from the destination node a message indicating an updated impairment margin; wherein the nodes in the optical communications network are interconnected by network sections, and wherein the processor is further configured to: determine if the impairments are recoverable or irrecoverable; if the impairments are recoverable, propagate the impairment margins for each section to a destination node, and evaluate the quality of the potential communication channel at the destination node; and if one or more of the impairments are irrecoverable, evaluate the quality of the potential communication channel on a section by section basis, and deny setting-up the potential communication channel if the impairment level is found to be intolerable in any section.
A node in an optical network stores impairment margins for each channel that traverses it. A processor detects changes impacting these margins and triggers a message with change information to a destination node. It receives an updated impairment margin message from the destination node. The system determines if impairments are recoverable or not. If recoverable, impairment margins are propagated to the destination node and the potential channel quality is evaluated. If irrecoverable, the channel quality is evaluated section-by-section and denied if any section has intolerable impairment.
18. The node of claim 17 , wherein the processor receives from the destination node updated resource allocation information.
The optical network node receives updated resource allocation information from the destination node in response to the impairment detection and reporting mechanism.
19. The node of claim 18 , wherein the resource allocation information includes information associated with reconfiguring a communication channel using a different wavelength.
The resource allocation information that the optical network node receives includes data related to reconfiguring a communication channel to use a different wavelength, potentially avoiding the detected impairments.
20. The node of claim 17 , wherein the impairment margins comprise at least one margin type selected from a group of types consisting of a cross-talk margin, an optical power margin, a Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) margin, a Polarization Modulation Dispersion (PMD) margin and a filtering margin.
The impairment margins used in the optical network node include at least one of: cross-talk margin, optical power margin, Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) margin, Polarization Modulation Dispersion (PMD) margin, or filtering margin.
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July 22, 2014
August 29, 2017
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